Coup underway in Iraq Confirmed. Video added

posted at 7:04 pm on August 10, 2014 by Jazz Shaw

This was popped up in the headlines, and details are still sketchy, but something potentially big is afoot in Iraq. (And for once, we’re not talking about their being under attack by ISIS.) We were first tipped off on Twitter as well as a quick draw compilation of tweets from inside Iraq provided at Pundit Press. Here are a few, along with Pundit Press’s summary, keeping in mind that this isn’t confirmed yet:

Iraq’s parliament just chose a new President who refused to rename Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki to a third term. Maliki declared the move unconstitutional and his own State of Law Party pulled support from him. Now his forces are seizing government buildings in Iraq, have closed the airport, and are surrounding the Green Zone.

His speech refusing to step down occurred at midnight and was followed by the military action.

Rumour mill is spinning wildly in baghdad. people are saying that there was just an explosion in president's compound

Assuming this is true – and a lot of reporters are picking up on it already – it sounds like somebody wanted al-Maliki out, but he’s not inclined to go. Actually, the WSJ predicted there was trouble afoot in the naming of the new PM earlier this week.

AGHDAD—As Sunni Islamist militants stabbed further into northern Iraq this week, sparking U.S. airstrikes against them, lawmakers in Baghdad appeared as divided as ever in choosing a new prime minister to form a government by Sunday’s deadline.

Iraqi politicians have been meeting in Baghdad this weekend before a constitutional deadline to form a new prime minister and government by midnight on Sunday. And no broadly acceptable alternative to Mr. Maliki appears to have emerged, further complicating the political situation.

If that impasse persists past the weekend, it could force a reassessment of the U.S. military intervention that many Iraqis see as essential to arresting the Islamist militants’ startling advances this year.

Allahpundit was already making some predictions within minutes of the news breaking.

A coup in Iraq would make things easy for the U.S. Abandon Maliki and deal with the Kurds exclusively from now on

It’s difficult to imagine a worse time for this (not that there’s a good time, mind you) when the country is under attack from an Islamic terrorist army on several fronts. Having their internal government structure break down just seems to invite more external problems. And if al-Maliki really arrests the new president (a Kurd) as threatened, that may indeed be the excuse the Kurds need to head for the exits.

Stay tuned. I’m sure there will be more coming from one or the other of us as this develops.

UPDATE 1: (Jazz) CNN is finally on the story and has film of tanks in the streets outside the Green Zone.

“There is a huge security presence, police and army, especially around the Green Zone,” the highly-protected district that houses Iraq’s key institutions, a high-ranking police officer has confirmed to AFP.

He said the deployment started at around 10:30 pm Iraq time, just 90 minutes before Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced on state television he would file a complaint against the president for violating the constitution.

“There is security everywhere in Baghdad, these are very unusual measures that look like those we impose for a state of emergency,” the police official said.

UPDATE 3: (Jazz) Some video from CNN with a bit more analysis and early scenes from the Green Zone.

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The Zero won’t arm the Kurds significantly simply because his favorite foreign leader and terrorist Muzzie is Erdogan in Turkey.

King Putt wouldn’t want to disappoint him and give the Kurds some legitimacy along with the weaponry to fend off ISIS.
Erdogan’s (and the Turks) hatred for the Kurds is nearly similar to his hatred for Israel.

Democracy has been working in Kurdistan. Democratic principles applied to a republican form of government can work in a real nation, even a Muslim one.

Nations spring from shared cultural identity. In order to defend their common interests people unite against the Other that controls the territory outside of the nation.

Fake nations cobbled together from warring tribes that hate each other are empires, not nations. Empires are a collection of nations held together by force. Democratic principles supporting a republican form of government cannot be maintained in empires. In defending the interests of their nation, almost everyone votes against the interests of the empire.

America is becoming an empire, and it is destroying our republic. The European Union is an empire the elites are trying to force on the people of Europe. It will fail, as a ‘nation.’ It will disintegrate, or democracy there will die.

The fanatical cult of multiculturalism/diversity is the mortal enemy of liberal democracy. Our elites love the cult, in the same way they always admire what they imagine to be well-functioning tyrannies. They see the divisions as weaknesses that can be exploited for profit …. er, the betterment of mankind.

Is this the example of an inclusive and diverse govt that dear leader envisioned? This is what he gets every time he stirs the pot. Maybe this is what we’ll get in 2 years, some in our military loyal to…

Democratic principles applied to a republican form of government can work in a real nation, even a Muslim one.

fadetogray on August 11, 2014 at 8:15 AM

No, they can’t – at least, not if the nation is actually Muslim, and not secular with a large muslim population. Islam allows no other contenders for power.

America is becoming an empire, and it is destroying our republic.

Uhhh, not even remotely.

The fanatical cult of multiculturalism/diversity is the mortal enemy of liberal democracy.

fadetogray on August 11, 2014 at 8:15 AM

One of them. The other two are socialism and islam. (BTW, it’s not “multiculturalism” that is the enemy, it’s post-modernism, which holds there is no objective truth; “multiculturalism” is a subset of that.)

I was not meaning empire in the sense the Left means it when talking about America. We are not becoming an empire because of the usual way of annexing other nations. We are doing it backwards, by letting ourselves be invaded by other cultures that see themselves as separate nations.

These immigrants from other cultures are now overwhelmingly (not all, but the great majority) becoming Democrats and voting for more goodies for their group with reckless disregard for its impact on us as a whole. Thus democracy fails just as it would fail in any empire.

Democracy has been working in Kurdistan. Democratic principles applied to a republican form of government can work in a real nation, even a Muslim one. fadetogray on August 11, 2014 at 8:15 AM

No. Only in a “moderate” one, and there are none, because moderate Islam is not Islam. There’s only Islam. An actual Muslim country has only one guide for anything and that’s the toilet paper source we call the Quran.

No. Only in a “moderate” one, and there are none, because moderate Islam is not Islam. There’s only Islam. An actual Muslim country has only one guide for anything and that’s the toilet paper source we call the Quran.

Akzed on August 11, 2014 at 10:07 AM

Democratic principles worked in Turkey for a very long time, and they’ve been functioning in Indonesia and Malaysia for a while, too. You and I may regard their forms to be awkward and forced and generally lacking in the level of tolerance we expect in the West (but it’s really no worse than ours used to be), but they are republics with democratic institutions, and they are far better than the Muslim tyrannies.

Democracies only work at all in what are generally homogeneous political entities. It almost doesn’t matter what those entities are, as long as the people in them have similar world views that differentiate them from the people outside of the democracy, and as long as they mostly actually want their democratic institutions to work.

It is perfectly possible for a Muslim to rationalize that supporting their nation’s democratic institutions and rule of law are compatible with Muhammed’s rules even when there appears to be a literal conflict, since Muslims embracing democratic institutions really is the only possible path to Islam becoming universal. If they don’t, Islam will eventually be eradicated.

No. Only in a “moderate” one, and there are none, because moderate Islam is not Islam. There’s only Islam. An actual Muslim country has only one guide for anything and that’s the toilet paper source we call the Quran.

Akzed on August 11, 2014 at 10:07 AM

.
It is perfectly possible for a Muslim to rationalize that supporting their nation’s democratic institutions and rule of law are compatible with Muhammed’s rules even when there appears to be a literal conflict, since Muslims embracing democratic institutions really is the only possible path to Islam becoming universal. If they don’t, Islam will eventually be eradicated.

fadetogray on August 11, 2014 at 10:49 AM

.
Right now, Islam is being used by those persons trying to promote one-world-government. They don’t give a hang about Islam, Allah, or Muhammad. The biggest obstacle to their goal is Christian believers on the earth, right now. By using the Islamic Jihad “warriors”, they achieve a means of eradicating Christians, while maintaining the appearance of ‘keeping their hands clean’ of the matter.
Also, the state of anarchy being created by what the Jihad warriors are doing, adds credence to the idea that only a strong one-world-government can bring about a state of peace, calm, and tranquility.
.
I personally believe that the second-half of the great “seven year tribulation” is when the Islamic fundamentalists figure out that they’ve been “had” by the one-world-government, and revolt … MUCH worse than they are now.

Democratic principles worked in Turkey for a very long time, and they’ve been functioning in Indonesia and Malaysia for a while, too.

fadetogray on August 11, 2014 at 10:49 AM

Those are all secular countries with majority muslim populations. As they become muslim countries (through the application of actual islam to the government), they rapidly begin to lose any claim to being “republican”. Turkey is rapidly approaching a dictatorial state much like the one Kamal Ataturk reformed.

Those are all secular countries with majority muslim populations. As they become muslim countries (through the application of actual islam to the government), they rapidly begin to lose any claim to being “republican”. Turkey is rapidly approaching a dictatorial state much like the one Kamal Ataturk reformed.

GWB on August 11, 2014 at 11:53 AM

Turkey? You mean the country that, just yesterday, held a national election? That dictatorial state?

Now, to be fair, they elected someone who looks, sounds and acts an awful lot like a dictator. Which is worrisome, admittedly. But they are not even close to being an Islamic state. And I suspect that if ISIS types or the Muslim Brotherhood were ever to try to make inroads in Turkey, the Islamists would very quickly find themselves with their head on a stick…